The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-12-15
DEMOCRATIC FALSE PRETENsEs.

The squirming of the Democratic leaders
over the Presidents message is very amusing
They all want to compliment it as one of the
ablest and most remarkable state papers that
ever emanated from human brains, but every
mothers son of them is anxious to avoid a
clear-cut issue on the line Mr.. Cleveland lays
down. The sensation the message created
nine-day's wonder. The ripple it caused
has already quieted; nobody and nothing was
moved from the even tenor of their or its way;
no excitement produced anywhere; the
markets were unaffected; the business of the
commodate the President, or to prove his
"scare" statements to be other than the rant
of bumptious amateur. Nothing is more GER
tain, as things are now shaping themselves, than
thatsagacious Democrats will endeavor to blunt
the edge of the issue the President attempted
to force upon the country, by passing, if they
can pass anything, measure based upon very
different ideas than those advocated by Mr..
Cleveland. The latest man to procure him
self to be interviewed is Mr. Mills, WHO'S to
mittee of the House. Mr.. Mills is a rampant
free-trader in theory, but does not want to
put his theories in practice just now. He at
tempts to Iidcule the idea that free trade is
the Democratic ultimate; and insists
that what the Democrats. want is something
or anything, but it is not free trade.
We are to be treated to a revision of the tariff
and a reduction of the surplus in some way,
but the peculiar feature of the situation is
that all the Democratic papers and statesmen
are busy quoting the platforms of the Repub-
Hcan party, and the messages of Republican
Presidents, and the speeches Of such Repub-
lican leaders as Mr.. Sherman, the intent being
to show that what they propose to do is
exactly what the Republicans would do or
have done if they had the power. Now, here's
how-de-do. After all the Democratic blow,
the best and the only thing the party can do
is to attempt to climb upon the Republican
platform, and revise the tariff and reduce the
surplus in accordance with the ideas sug-
gested by the Republican party. This is q
nice backing of their Fat Boy in the White
House. Mr.. Cleveland has made his first
brash effort at being statesman, and along
comes his party within less than a week after
he launched his tremendous thunderboit, and
not only repudiate both him and his ponder
Gus essay, but in every possible way they can
they are attempting to assure the country
that If anything is done twill be done after
the pattern set by the Republican party.
There is no other explanation of the extraor-
binary effort on the part of the Democrats to
make it appear that the Presidents
message does not mean what every
body says it means, and that what
the Democrats propose is nothing more than
what the Republicans have been committed
to ever since 1868. 1t is very strange that
nobody ever SO interpreted Republican plat
form, OF a Republican message or a Republic
an speech. It is very remarkable thing
that the Democratic party, up to this time,
has strenuously opposed the very policy they
now assert is what they desire to inaugurate.
It is very strange that both in this country
and in England the message of Mr. Cleveland
was interpreted to mean something very diff
ferent from Republican doctrine. 1t Is very
strange that in the first blush of enthusiasm
such men as Henry Watterson stopped over
upon the fact that Mr.. Cleveland had given
the doctrine of protection its coup de grace,
and that finally "a straight issue" had been
made, and that such pseudo Democrats as Mr..
Randall and his followers would either have to
become Democrats or go over to the Republican
camp at once. What is the meaning of this
sudden heat to prove that Mr.. Cleveland has
recommended nothing more than Republican
doctrine for ten years. and that President
Arthur and Secretary Folger and John Sher-
man, in message, and report, and speech. COM
mitted themselves to the same thing as the
Democracy now proposea Is it because the
Democrats find they must again masquerade
in order to carry their point, or to even ad-
vance one step in the desired directionf Is it
a confession that they cannot much
as undertake the question and expect
the public confdencef Is it a confession
that they have neither the ability nor the
craftsmanship to formulate a policy of their
Own, but must do what they have often
attempted to do, dress up in Republican old
clothes and ask the confidence of the country
under false disguise, as did the cowboys in
the revolution, when they lured vessel
upon the rocks by displaying a false light.
Whatever it is, certain is it that change has
come over the spirit of the Democratic
dream and Democrats have discovered that
the issue they fondly imagined themselves to
the White House phenomenon is loaded, and
must be handled with the greatest care. 1t
will strike the country now, under the altered
condition of things, that if all the Democrats
propose 70 do is what the Republicans would